The increasing availability of digital tools in science classrooms can provide students with more frequent and easier access to large amounts of data. Large data sets have considerable epistemological potential, as they enable, for instance, the observation of otherwise unobservable phenomena, but it must be assumed that handling them places…

The education science (or pedagogy based on scientific principles) of the learning of spectroscopy analysis in terms of critical thinking was examined in a community college setting with high school outreach and senor college transfer students enrolling in courses and/or projects. The most important discovery of science in the 20th Century was the…

There is a growing need for chemistry students to be able to handle and manipulate large datasets and analyze them in an efficient and accessible way. This creates the need to develop course materials that introduce these topics early in the undergraduate curriculum. To address this growing need, this activity introduced RStudio to students…

When learning about scientific phenomena, students are expected to "mechanistically" explain how underlying interactions produce the observable phenomenon and "conceptually" connect the observed phenomenon to canonical scientific knowledge. This paper investigates how the integration of the complementary processes of designing…

We present a detailed yet easy-to-follow discussion of the mathematical treatment of time-resolved spectroscopic data in a model-based approach. This is accompanied and complemented by an example of a colorful and pedagogically rich chemical reaction: the permanganate oxidation of sugars in basic aqueous media (often known as the chameleon…

We review analytic frameworks related to the study of noticing in mathematics and science education for the purpose of suggesting trends in research literature across both disciplines over time. We focus on highly cited articles in both mathematics and science noticing research, along with recent articles in both disciplines. We focus specifically…

Technological tools, like virtual assistants (aka chatbots), have been ubiquitous in people's day to day. The challenge becomes how educators leverage digital omnipresence to benefit the learning environment. Using a curated chatbot allows educators to reach more students with instructor-approved information, particularly in large classrooms.…

Measurement uncertainty is a key topic in the university physics laboratory curriculum. In this study, we investigate students' ability to draw conclusions from measurement data and reasoning about measurement uncertainty in inquiry labs. This investigation centres around a task where students conclude whether measurements from two experiments…

Real-time quantitative PCR is a technique used to monitor the PCR reaction in real time. RT-qPCR is broadly classified into two types based on its purpose: absolute and relative quantification. Absolute quantification is used in a wide array of fields such as microbiology, food technology, and biotechnology to quantify the microbiological…

Course-based undergraduate experiences (CUREs) have been employed to enhance students' content knowledge, self-efficacy, science identity, and enrollment in postgraduate programs. In this study, we used it as a science communication skills enhancement tool. The CURE-Comm Framework was implemented to integrate science communication into a CURE in…

Artificial intelligence (AI) is now affecting all aspects of our social lives. Without always knowing it, we interact daily with intelligent systems. They serve us invisibly. At least that is the goal we assign to them: to make our lives better, task by task. Artificial intelligence has the potential to make biology education more engaging,…

While citizen science and other participatory approaches to science are increasingly used in schools to promote student science learning, rarely are these students supported to collect, analyze, and share their data with meaningful outside audiences. In this study, we used a Design-Based Research approach to iteratively develop and examine an…

This study was grounded in the spatial computational thinking model developed by the "3D Weather" project funded by the NSF STEM+C program. The model reflects a discipline-based perspective towards computational thinking and captures the spatial nature of computational thinking in meteorology and the reliance of computational thinking on…

We created a 2-week, dual-module summer course introducing high school students to environmental toxicology by teaching them quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) as a way to quantify gene expression of chemical defense proteins in response to exposure to environmental pollutants. During the course, students are guided through the various…

Background: Scientific thinking is an essential learning goal of science education and it can be fostered by inquiry learning. One important prerequisite for scientific thinking is procedural understanding. Procedural understanding is the knowledge about specific steps in scientific inquiry (e.g. formulating hypotheses, measuring dependent and…